Social media users reacted with anger and sadness to the news of this latest trophy killing.

“Was Xanda collared? Not that it would have saved him from this piece of shit. But it might have acted as a warning that he was being monitored. Someone's pocket being filled by these rich despicable trophy hunters? Why aren't these lions protected. Why keep on trading in their lives for money? Why why why????” asked Monica Pelger on Facebook.

“Today, I cry for all humanity. In a world where a cat is worth more as a trophy than a living creature, there is something wrong with humans and arms and death. Dear Cecil, Xanda, please forgive those of us who tried to save you,” wrote Stu Elman on Facebook.

Trophy-hunting tourists legally kill more than 600 lions each year, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

That is approximately 2 percent of the entire African lion population, currently estimated at 30,000. A 2011 report by the International Fund for Animal Welfare said that between 1999 and 2008 American hunters accounted for 64 percent of the kills.